Finally—a real-guy car movie that happens to be a really good comedy too.

The problem with self-described “car movies” is that they not only fail at being good movies, they fail at being convincing on a technical and car culture level. If the minutia isn’t right, then your confidence in the whole thing just falls apart. Take the rash of Fake & Furious movies as an example—not to mention all the cheap clones that franchise has spawned. But bad car movies have been perpetrated on the public for far longer. As a car guy, I can only suspend my disbelief for so long before I call BS. Going to see the preview of Dax Shepard’s Hit & Run, I suspected it was going to be better than most (Shepard comes from an auto industry background), but I was in for a real treat at how good H&R was as a comedy.

Getaway driver Charlie Bronson (played by Shepard) has been relocated by the witness protection program to a small town and fallen in love with Annie (Kristen Bell). Their idyllic life together is shattered when Annie must travel to the big city to take an important job. Mayhem ensues when jilted criminal partners, a jealous ex-boyfriend, and misfit law enforcement officers pursue the couple. The script—also written by Shepard—delivers the kind of continuous one-liners that made movies like “Smokey & The Bandit” a classic. The reparte between Shepard’s character (Charlie), and Shepard’s real-life wife, Kristen Bell (Annie) is particularly funny; Charlie, the knuckle-dragging gearhead, often runs afoul of Annie’s prim and proper pretensions (she’s a conflict resolution expert). At one point while riding along in Charlie’s 700hp ’67 Lincoln, the two get in a side-splitting argument when Charlie proffers that “nitrous is for f*gs" (a surreptitious nod to the Fast & Furious), and “cubic inches rule.” That doesn’t go over well with the politically correct Annie. In the scenes with Shepard and Bell, one can’t help but feel that art is imitating life; I kept rooting for Charlie as he defended hot rodding to Annie, who drives a Prius. Cut to the slo-mo burnout.

Randy—brilliantly played by Tom Arnold—is an inept Federal Marshall assigned to protect Charlie, the prototypes for which are Jackie Gleason’s Sherriff Buford (Smokey & The Bandit) and James Best’s Rosco P. Coltrane (Dukes Of Hazzard). Only Arnold does Randy’s character one better with a high-energy psychological meltdown so funny it had me passing soda through my nose. Randy’s various vehicle, firearm, and relationship malfunctions are worth the price of admission alone—Tom Arnold is a one-man wrecking crew, and nearly steals the movie. In contrast, a strong bad-guy performance by Bradley Cooper keeps the threat real and propels the ensemble into the film’s few chilling, sober moments. 

 
Car guys will love this one: The mechanical star of the show is Shepard’s own ’67 Lincoln, which packs a 700hp 514ci big-block Ford for power. The car, owned by Shepard for the past 12 years, actually served as the inspiration for the movie, rather than the other way around, as is normally the case with Hollywood car movies. Shepard performed all his own stunt driving, of which H&R is prolifically endowed—and you‘ll be happy to know he also went to great pains to ensure all the car chases and car dialog were 110 percent credible.

Hit & Run is arguably the most satisfying automotive-based comedy to hit the screen since Smokey & The Bandit. At a minimum, it needs to be on your top-ten must-see car movie list. To this reviewer, Dax Shepard’s stunt driving, an articulate script, real hot rods, and a nearly ideal ensemble cast make Hit & Run the car movie of the summer. Just don’t be surprised if you smell a little like tire smoke when you leave the theatre.—Johnny Hunkins

Check out the trailer here.